Nightmare Revisited
by spiritwarrior27
Summary: If Millicent had never fallen down that tree, she would have never met Jack Skellington. Or had a candy feast in a graveyard. Or saved the town from imminent doom. Or discovered a strange new power deep inside her. Rated k, but may change to a t due to some violent scenes in oogie's lair. (I wanted him to be threatening!)
1. Chapter 1

Nightmare Revisited

**T'was a short time ago, shorter now than it seems, in a place that perhaps you've seen in your dreams… Millicent would probably be leading a normal life now, if she hadn't found that locket. Or fell inside that tree with the pumpkin on it. Or met Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King. **

**October 26****th****, Crane St.:**

I flew down the street, the cold crisp autumn air blowing my hair out of my pale face, the smell the crackling leaves in the air. I opened my eyes to grim grinning ghosts (pun intended) lining people's houses. "Millie, wait up! I'm not THAT fast!" my friend Bridget called behind me. I always did this, soaring down a hill while Bridget preferred to hang back and be slightly sane. I went up the hill I had just ridden on and glided next to my friend with graceful ease. "I swear Millie, you're becoming more like Pocahontas every day! You should be her for Halloween!" I laughed, and retorted "I guess that makes you Nakoma then! Come on we need to get back to my house and finish our costumes!" With that, I dragged her back to my house (as much as one can when on a scooter, but still.)

After about half an hour, everything concerning Halloween was done. Now, all we had to do was sit around, and… just then, I remembered the door. The door was in my parent's room, which led to a secret area that I always wanted to explore, but the idea of bug nests held me back. So I waited for cooler weather when I could layer clothes to protect my skin. I told Bridget of my idea and, though reluctant at first, she agreed to my plan. We suited up. When we were fully protected (goggles, bike helmets, and bug repellent galore) we approached the door. I chipped off the paint in the edges, unscrewed the screws, and opened the door as a musty smell blew in our faces. Looking in, I gasped, as my gaze fell on the far side of the enclosure.

**Halloween Town, 26****th**** October**

The whole town was ecstatic, with everyone running this way and that, getting ready for this Halloween. In the midst of it all, a lone skeleton stood, taking it all in. Jack knew he should go help everybody, but he always did this every year, reflecting on the hard work and preparation it took to pull of Halloween. Somehow, he felt excited, but at the same time he felt empty, a feeling he hadn't felt for a long while. After last year's Christmas/Halloween mash up, Jack felt that he should try to focus on this holiday and do what he loved doing best, scaring people. This did nothing to keep the emotions away, but somehow, he felt something big was about to happen. Soon. Content with this thought, he went to help finish the preparations for Halloween.


	2. Chapter 2: down the pumpkin tree

**Housetown: **

The secret door opened to reveal a dank, dusty room. It was very small, just big enough for two or three people, and spider webs were everywhere along the walls. It wasn't much to be thrilled about, but the real surprise was the pile of objects neatly arranged at the far side of the room. We crawled across the space to get a better look at it. Upon closer examination, the pile revealed all sorts of old treasures such as books and journals, paintings, jewelry, dolls, and a giant oval mirror. "I wonder who these belonged to." I breathed "they're beautiful!"

"If I were them, I would never give these up. I might even bury myself with them!" Bridget joked.

"You wouldn't be able to bury yourself with them, they're too big!"

"I was kidding!"

As I picked up the giant mirror, a small ornate box caught my eye.

"Bridget, come look at this!" I gasped.

"What is it?"

"A jewelry box, I think!"

It wasn't a jewelry box at all, it was a music box! The inside was velvet lined, and had an elegant swan on the lid. There were two dancers in the middle, as so many often do, with a silver locket circling the dancers, placed there so many years ago. It was shaped like a rectangle with its corners cut off, and a giant blue aqua gem in the middle with seven holiday symbols around it. Unhitching the chain, I put the locket around my neck. "Isn't it the most wonderful thing?" I said, admiring it.

"Can I try it on?" Bridget asked " Come on Millie! Please?"

"No! I found it, so I get to use it for my costume. It's a universal law, Brie!"

Bridget almost shot something back, but I could tell she knew it was no use. Once my mind is made up, there's no stopping me!

**October 31****st****….** Tonight was the best night of the year. The only night when you can troop around in fairy wings or be a box with feet and people won't give you strange looks. The candy is only a plus in my perspective. With it being my first year without a chaperone parent, Bridget and I turned the town upside down getting all that candy! Finally, we were at the other end of theneighborhood, near the forest. "How much candy did you get miss Wicked Witch?" My friend asked. "I filled the bag! Anyways, we aren't done yet Cupid."

Suddenly, I felt really strange all over, like someone shot me with a tranquilizer dart and then put my whole hand in a light socket. "Why don't we go into the forest before the last house? It'll be fun, a Halloween adventure!" I suggested, not even knowing what was coming out of my mouth.

"Why would we do that? You know, monsters in the woods?" Bridget said.

"Monsters aren't in the woods, they lurk around cities!"

"But still…."

"Come on, please?" I pleaded, with puppy dog eyes.

"Oh, fine." With that, I grabbed her by the hand and whisked her off into the woods. As we trumped around the woods, the funny feeling grew to the size of a car. Suddenly, Bridget gasped. "What?" I questioned. "Millie, look!" She said, pointing to my chest. I looked down, and stifled a scream in shock! The locket was GLOWING!

"Mil, I don't like this, let's go back!"

"**NO**!" I yelled "I'm staying!" I was horrified at myself. I had **NEVER** talked to Brie like that!

Abruptly, I grabbed Brie's arm and dragged her a few more yards. _What on earth was I_ _doing? I don't act like this!_ I thought, scared of even myself.

Soon, we found ourselves in the middle of seven trees, each one with a holiday emblem on it. I recognized them as the signs on my locket. Looking down, I found now the holiday SYMBOLS were glowing too!

"Millicent, I know you want to be here, but I don't and I was supposed stay with you! Let's just go!"

Ignoring Bridget, I came upon a pumpkin door. Slowly, I turned the knob on the door.

"MILLICENT, STOP!" Brie screamed. It was too late. A tornado of wind and leaves sucked me right into the tree. The last thing I saw before the blackness engulfed me was Bridget screaming my name.


	3. The Pumpkin King and I

**Hi Guys! Chapter three is up, soon to be followed by chapter 4. I will be making the chapters a little longer from this point on, just to get enough information into a chapter before you all get bored. There might be some references to other characters and things not from the Nightmare universe, so I want to point out that I do not own any of them, and I especially do not own anything from the mind of Tim Burton. I want to point out that my references are not about people in the real world, so I am not breaking any rules by doing this.**

All I could do was tumble down the void, to where I didn't know yet. My friend's screaming rang in my ears, desperate cries to get me back. Wind howled all around me as blackness engulfed everything. Leaves swirled faster and faster in an invisible tornado. I screamed as I spun around and around…

….. And then I saw a jack o lantern go by in a flash as I hit the ground and started rolling down a steep hill. Now its fun when you're playing on a grassy slope when you are little, but it's another thing when you're tumbling down a rocky terrain at high speed. Sadly, I dealt with the latter. Oh joy. When my journey was over, I found myself at the foot of the hill with a serious concussion and nasty bruises from all those rocks in the way. Another blessing was that my Elphaba costume was in the worst shape possible, and my hat was all the way at the top with pumpkin guy. Grumbling, I trudged up the hill and saw that my hat had a much more graceful landing than I did. When I looked as neat as possible, I worked on getting my bearings. In my side vision, I could see pumpkin man looking at me. "Can you tell me where I am?" I asked, embarrassed. No reply. "Didn't think so"

I then noticed the landscape that stretched before me. There was a town and a graveyard, with all the houses and graves mixed up in a confusing manner. A giant black hill curled into a spiral on my right, the only thing that sort of made sense. As I turned toward the scarecrow, I asked "Where am I any-?"

I gasped in shock. The pumpkin scarecrow was M-I-S-S-I-N-G!

_How could he have disappeared? I would have heard him if he had walked away! _I felt so scared and isolated in this nutty place, but I had to be brave if I ever wanted to get home. Taking a deep breath, I walked down to this strange new world I had before me.

My walk didn't take that long, so I soon found myself at the gates of town. Looking past it, there was some sort of celebration going on. Up close, the place was even MORE confusing! In the middle of the crowd, I thought I saw the disappearing scarecrow on fire. _On Fire? Now I'm really losing it!_ I thought. Turns out I wasn't as loopy as I thought, because the flaming scarecrow suddenly became a skeleton. To get a closer look, I blended in with the crowd so I wouldn't be seen.

…

To Jack, his favorite part of the festivities was after all the scaring. He loved seeing all the townsfolk come together to celebrate their holiday. When he looked out at the sea of undead faces, he saw….. The strangest witch he'd ever seen. She had the usual green skin, black hair, hat and broom, but the skirt of her dress was torn, and she wasn't screeching or cackling with delight. It seemed she was trying to take in everything around her! _She must be new to Halloween town;_ he thought _I think I'll help her get to know everyone._

…**.**

After the crowd dispersed, I started walking around, trying very hard not to look lost. In reality, I was terrified that someone would figure out I was human. I was pretty sure they wouldn't like it if they found out. Overwhelmed, I sat down by the giant fountain, not even acknowledging the fact that it had GREEN water. What would I do now? "Are you okay? You don't seem too well. I hope we didn't scare you TOO much." A strange voice said. I froze, and my blood ran cold as I slowly turned around to see the tall skeleton looking down at me. "I'm Jack. Jack Skell-" I didn't let him finish as I bolted for the gates and ran into the graveyard. I couldn't help myself. He didn't seem like a kidnapper, but I heard plenty of horror stories about creepy strangers. Without thinking, I ran on top of the spiral hill to catch my breath. It looked like I had lost him when I heard him behind me "You didn't let me finish." At that point, I had had enough of him. I whirled around and held my broom up like a spear. "Don't think you can get away with this!" I snapped "I know about people like you, pretending to be nice when you're really a kidnapper! I'm not going to fall for your act!" The skeleton looked confused and a bit shocked, considering I probably looked like a vicious, creepy psycho. "I'm not trying to kidnap you" he said calmly.

"That's what they all say!" I said.

"I thought you would like help getting to know everyone, since you seemed new!"

He looked really annoyed now, so I lowered my broom and said "I still don't trust you, but I'll hear what you have to say."

"Actually, I would like to know why you ran away. Is there something I should know about?" He said.

"Well, for starters, I don't really belong here."

"What do you mean? Of course you do! You're one of us!"

"No, actually I'm not." I knew I was taking a big risk, but It wouldn't have made sense if I told my story first. Putting my hand to my face, I slowly wiped off the green makeup on the left side of my face. "I'm really a human, and I came down here by mistake." I proceeded to tell him my madcap day, Jack all the while looking as surprised as if I had just slapped him in the skull.

"I ran away because I didn't know what everyone would think about me being a human, and the fact that I barely know you. I guess I lost it then."

"Don't worry; I'll help you find a way back home. You were right about the citizens not accepting you very well. No human has EVER been here." Jack said, finally recovering from the shock.

"None?"

"None."

"Well, thanks for the help. I guess I needed it."

"Don't mention it. Let's go back to town."

"Do you think I'll need to hide? I'm sort of tired of doing that now."

"What if they react badly?"

"I don't really care what they think of me."

"Then let's not worry about it" He said, leading me back towards town.


	4. Chapter 4: Halloweentown

As we neared Halloween town, I felt a lump forming in my throat. I must have been slowing, because Jack asked me if I was okay. "I'm okay" I responded "just a bit nervous. If you're right about no human being here, then they won't be happy to see me."

"You're right there, but we can't hide you forever."

"Yeah."

Considering I just met him, Jack was really nice. We were back at the gates, and I was wondering if I could turn back and stay in the graveyard forever. I couldn't hide behind my makeup now. _I have to be brave._ I reminded myself _Otherwise, I won't get home._

"Stay beside me." Jack said.

Almost immediately, people started talking and gathering around Jack. The most notable person was a smaller man with a hat as tall as him, and a MAYOR ribbon around him.

"I believe THIS Halloween was our most horrible yet, Jack!"

Judging from the way he said it, the mayor said it EVERY YEAR. Suddenly, I remembered to lower the brim of my hat over my face, but it was too late.

"What are YOU doing here!?" The mayor cried, his head twisting around to his pale face.

Everyone gasped.

"A HUMAN!" One witch exclaimed.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" a werewolf shouted.

"GET HER!" A Harlequin Demon yelled.

"NO! Don't touch her" Jack said moving in front of me "she won't harm anyone!"

"She can't leave then! She'll tell everyone about us!" The witch said.

"I promise" I said, finding my voice "I won't tell anyone! Even if I did, they'd think I'm insane. I don't want that to happen. I just need you all to put up with me until I can find a way home."

The crowd grumbled, but they knew it was no use. I was stuck here. When everybody had gone their separate ways, I heard a new voice call out. "Jack?" A lady called out. The woman had long red hair, somewhat like yarn, stitches at all of her joints, and a patchwork dress on. Jack's face immediately broke into a smile. "Hey, Sally!" He said, going over to her side.

"Who's this?" Sally asked, meaning me.

"I'm Millicent or Millie for short." I said, stepping forward

"It's nice to meet you, Millie!" Sally said "Were you that third witch I saw before?"

"Yeah! It's actually Elphaba, but that's ok." I said, smiling

"Who's Elphaba?" Sally questioned.

"A character from my favorite musical."

"Well," Jack cut in "now that you have met each other, I think we should find Millie a place to stay."

"I have to get back to Dr. Finkelstein now anyways. If I break curfew, he'll INSIST on keeping me locked up again. Though it was nice meeting you Millie!" Sally said, smiling.

She walked away, and we looked on for a second before turning back to each other.

"She's really nice!" I exclaimed.

"She is." Jack said, grinning. I realized that he hadn't stopped smiling since I'd met Sally.

"Is she your, um, girlfriend?"

"Yeah." Jack said, blanching.

"Well, we should figure out where I'll be staying for the night." I said, to change the subject.

"Maybe you could stay in the guest room at my house."

"I probably wouldn't feel comfortable staying at another person's house. Maybe the attic above town hall? If it's empty, I mean." I said, meaning the tall official looking building to my right.

"Great idea! How did you know that was the town hall, though?"

"A wild guess."

….

**Tree House, Halloween town, October 31****st****:**

"Sew up the BAG, not the bugs you dimwits!" The voice said.

"Sorry sir!" Lock exclaimed nervously "Barrel, stop pricking the bugs with the needle!"

"Why should I be the one messing up? You're the one doing it!"

"Shut up, both of you! We're almost done!" Shock yelled.

"Now that I'm sewn together, let's get down to business, shall we?" The voice said "So you say a HUMAN came to town? She'll be the first one to test my machine on! When it works, and it WILL work, NOTHING will stop me from becoming the seven holidays king! AHAHAHAHA!" He cackled menacingly, while Lock, Shock, and Barrel cowered in the corner.

**Guess who's back? One hint: He's a giant buggy sack. It's Oogie Boogie! Believe it or not, He'll play a VERY important part later on in the story.**


	5. Chapter 5: Strange happenings

**Halloween town, November 1****st:**

_I was back in the tree portal, spinning in the center of the mini tornado. Did it help that I felt like Alice Kingsley and Dorothy at the same time? All around me leaves swirled, but this time, terrifying faces were behind them. Dream Catchers, Pumpkin head monsters, all of the things you __**don't **__want to see late at night. Trust me, you don't. They all snarled and hissed as I heard evil laughter pierce the night, and a silhouette of a humanoid potato sack appeared in front of me. "It's OOGIE'S turn to boogie now!" It cackled. Screams pierced the air…._

Then I woke up.

I heard a knocking on my bedroom door._ It must be my mom, _I thought. "Mom, I just had the strangest dream! There were flaming skeletons and talking potato sacks…." Then I realized I WASN'T in my bedroom, and I was talking to my door.

Jack grinned. "Slept well?" he said, entering my room.

"Guess so, considering I called you mom." I responded, deciding not to tell him about my dream. "So what's on the agenda?" I said, rising up from my cot.

"I was thinking about going to find some books on the town history. There might be a page on portals or keys to the outside world. I saw some books on the matter at Doctor Finklestein's lab when I did research on Christmas."

"You did research on Christmas?! Why?" I asked.

Jack proceeded to tell me about when he first discovered Christmas, from falling down the tree to his and Sally's kiss on spiral hill.

"How sweet!" I exclaimed.

Jack blanched a bit, and I could tell he was recalling the night. We walked in silence for a while (oh yeah, I forgot to tell you we were outside at this point. I still had my Elphaba costume on, so I didn't change.) Suddenly, he asked me why I called myself Elphaba instead of just a witch. As soon as he had mentioned that, my eyes opened wide, all sparking and eager. I smiled, and enthusiastically told him all about _Wicked. _I talked his nonexistent ears off about the musical, and my dream to star in it when I grow up. When I was done, the lab was in view.

"You sure know a lot about it" Jack said, slightly overwhelmed.

"Sorry, I get carried away when I talk about it. It's my dream to be up there belting out _Defying Gravity_."

"Well, I believe that you'll live your dream someday."

With that, I smiled.

…..

(Narrator's POV)

When Jack saw Millicent smile, he thought back to the defiant and angry girl he found on spiral hill last night. The fire in her eyes was replaced with childlike wonder and delight. She was different than everybody else, a spirited girl that was a child in many ways, but had the wizened look of someone beyond her years. This separated her from the rest of the world. A very confusing child, indeed!

They walked up to the entrance, and Jack knocked on the door. It was answered by Jewel, a loving creation of the doctor.

"Hello Jack, what a pleasure to see you. Who is your little friend?" Jewel said.

"This is Millicent, and we're here to see if the doctor has any books on the history of Halloweentown." Jack said.

"Well come on in, then. The doctor is busy on something in his lab, so I don't think we should bother him. Personally, I'm a bit worried about him. He's been acting stranger than usual…" Jewel sighed. "The library is down this way."

Jewel led them to a metal door. Above them, they could hear strange clanking and shouting. _The doctor,_ everyone thought. Inside the room were shelves of books, some messily stacked on the ground.

"This is where most of the books are held when not circulating around the house." Jewel said.

Millicent started looking through stacks, while Jack scanned the shelves. While looking, he was surprised by another pair of eyes staring back at him on the other side of the shelf!

"Sally?" Jack said, walking around the shelf to meet her.

"Hi, Jack." Sally said shyly. "Looking for books too?"

"Yes. Jewel said the doctor was behaving strangely earlier. Do you know anything about that?"

"No, but we're all very worried about him. He's never acted like this before, even when he's mad."

"Don't worry; he'll be back to normal soon." Jack said, putting a bony hand on her shoulder.

The two gazed into each other's eyes for a while, until the silence was broken on by Millicent.

"Hey, I think I searched the whole library, and found some good books to investigate. Let's go."

When they got the books together and headed for the door, they heard commotion and racket from upstairs.

_I hope everything's lright._ Jack thought.


End file.
